is the new big task facing barack obama and the u.s. congress. gridlock over the so-called fiscal cliff. what's the fiscal or better put financial cliff? think of it as a high, steep rock. a ledge the u.s. is teetering on and will plunge over if no action is taken on certain financial matters. what are those? one, the bush era tax cuts. in 2001 and 2003, congress, under president george w. bush, lowered everyone's taxes. but it was only temporary, like 11 years temporary. less than two months from now midnight december 31, taxes go back up. the average household will pay more in taxes each year, $2000 to $3500 more. two, sequestration. what's that? new, big budget cuts. $110 billion in cuts in 2013 alone. they go into effect january 2, and will affect the defense budget and the domestic budget. the cbo, says unemployment could climb up over 9%, pushing the u.s. back into recession. why did this happen? an automatic sequestration or permanent set aside of $1.2 trillion was passed by congress, in order to force congress to compromise and figure out how to cut the budget itself. but, a congressi